Weight is the enemy to manufacturers producing performance vehicles. Carbon fiber has played a major role in reducing vehicle mass, with some manufacturers such as McLaren creating monocoques of the strong and lightweight material. Lately, carbon fiber is beginning to be used for a component that had rarely used it in the past: wheels. Koenigsegg was one of the first to create a carbon-fiber wheel that could handle the stress of hard driving, and Ford followed with the Mustang Shelby GT350R and the subsequent GT supercar with the help of aftermarket maker Carbon Revolution. Now, Porsche has decided to create its own. For the first time ever, it will offer a braided carbon-fiber wheel on the 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series.

Available as an option, these carbon-fiber wheels will cost $14,980. That might seem outrageous, but the Turbo S Exclusive Series, which already has a trunklid, roof, and side skirts made of carbon fiber, is priced at $258,550. In that sense, it compares to putting a $1500 set of wheels on a Honda Civic.

According to Porsche, each wheel consists of more than 200 pieces, but there are two main components: the base and the center. The material for the base is created with a nearly 30-foot-diameter wheel that braids strings of carbon fiber together. The center is created with carbon-fiber fabric cutouts that are hand-assembled into the shape and structure of the wheel. The base and center are then braided together, and a resin is added to the carbon fiber to create the polymer. Pressure, plus extreme heating and cooling, hardens the wheels into their final structural form before a protective clear lacquer coat is applied. This method of assembly is intended to create denser carbon fiber, which inherently uses less material while creating a more rigid and structurally stronger product.

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Porsche claims the carbon-fiber wheels are 19 pounds, or 20 percent, lighter than the alloy wheels they would be replacing, which amounts to a nearly 75-pound weight reduction. They’re also said to be 20 percent stronger than Porsche’s regular alloys.